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In 2004, a partnership led by the city of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto, to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreak[citation needed]. The NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, California, instead; Toronto re-launched its bid in 2005 and was successful, playing its first game at the end of the 2006 season.

After the bowl could not renew its contract with the BCS member Big East Conference, officials decided to cease the contest.[3] It was hoped that the bowl could be revived later on, but the Big East's contract with the new Pinstripe Bowl complicated matters.[4] The MAC's tie in was inherited by the Humanitarian Bowl.

In all four editions of the International Bowl, the Big East representative defeated the MAC representative, with only the first game decided by fewer than 18 points. Campbell Blake was the International Bowl's Director of Communications and Media Relations during the last two years of the game.

The winner of the International Bowl was presented with a trophy similar in design to the International Bowl logo. A Canadian maple leaf formed the back of the trophy, with a small crystal football set offset to the right. The name of the winning team was placed on a plaque attached to the lower part of the trophy.

ESPN carried the International Bowl across its family of networks for the entirety of the bowl's history. Since the game was in Canada, the network chose to use its Canadian-born commentators or ones that had some connection to Canadian football. Toronto native John Saunders called the game for its first three playings, while CFL Hall of Famer Doug Flutie was a color commentator three times and Nepean, Ontario native Jesse Palmer was there for two of the games. With the exception of the inaugural playing, a Canadian served as the sideline reporter; Ontario natives Stacey Dales and David Amber were part of the festivities.